APPENDIX IX
The Art of Language
(A Key to Understanding)
Language can be a grand thing of beauty
when structured properly and formed well. It can be a precise tool of communication, and
comprehension and understanding. When a language's governing rules are followed it can be
both precise and concise avenue to learning and understanding, leaving no room
misunderstanding. That is when it is ordered so that there is no vage implications or
manipulation of its structural care is in form and logic, without such things as 1) improperly
formed or improperly read and applied antecidants of vage and dubious pronouns, or 2) poor
uses and/or applicaitons of both sentence and paragraph structure in violation and misapplication
of such as taking the noun object of a prepositional phrase and trading it for the subject of a
sentence or the main topic of a paragraph stucture. And there is a continuing number of any such
thing poorly done or intentionally done that can easily thwart the writing and/or reading of
a thing as to intent of meaning and comprehension of what that meaning is.
And thus when poorly used and set out at the writing end and/or then poorly read and
misapplied, comprehended or even contrived at the other end by the reader by a preset
subjective mind bias rather than a searching mind of objective intend of learning just
what there is that is being said; it can result in a mess of confusion, misunderstanding,
chaos, and even intentional mis-representation of a matter. Just ask any one who has
been poorly and improperly quoted by a reporter just how misconstrude a meaning can go
amiss.
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The struture of the English language has been long taught from the ground up of proper
structure for writing to the end purpose of understanding and for reading with comprehension.
The simple common form of such has been the use of sentences and paragraphs. While this is not
a formal English Language course of forum, some basic understanding is needful. Some will
feel it below them to othere it is the last place they want to return to — English.
Yet, for further related discusion to continue, such as to reviewing of Isaiah 11 and D & C 113
and what has been its history of perception and misperception, such a review of common ground is
deemed necessary. This way we can continue on an objective intelligent level of some common
agreed understanding rather than an emmotional subjective level of such treatment.
Paragraph Structure and Understanding
A well formed paragraph is a collection of related stentences dealing with a single topic. Thus
readily identifying what the single topic of any paragraph helps in proper comprehension
as to what its related sentences are being writen in reference to. A poorly written paragraph is
one that has more than one topic, such as apples and oranges, and then coming to the dilemma not
knowing whether a sentence's pronoun antecedent is speaking of apples or oranges. And without having
seen a red apple, a reader could become confussed and color their red apple orange, so to speak.
The Basic Rule: Keep one idea/topic to one paragraph. A well formed paragraph will have a well
set out and structured Topic Sentence. Then the rest of the paragraph's sentences ought to
support and refer back to the central idea or topic without straying into another idea or topic,
which would confuse one's comprehension and understanding. A well trained reader will be specifically
looking for the topic to readily know what to related the information in the sentences back to in the
paragraph. If a paragraph does not have a well defined or understood topic, the paragraph easily
becomes a bunch of unrelated ideas or perhaps worse. The reader may be left to subjectively select
their own topic with which to falsely relate and personally interpret the information.
While this merely scratches the surface of good paragaph writing and reading for proper comprehension,
it will be deemed enough for the intentions here. For further basic understanding of paragraph
sturcture and its elements of Coherence, Topic Sentence, and Adequate Development, you may wish
to follow this link to Purdue's one page handout on the matter writing will formed
paragraphs.
Basic Sentence Structure
The words which are used in English communication are divided into 8 basic parts of speech. A short
listing of review, definition and examples follows:
- 1) Nouns: People, Place, Things (dog, garden, work, Bob, town, girl, America, rock)
- 2) Pronouns: A short word that replaces and refers back to a noun (she, it, me, this, that, you, whom)
- 3) Verbs: Words that show action or being (run, is, laughed, have, singing)
- 4) Adjectives: describe nouns (brave, small, read, three, good, angry)
- 5) Adverbs: describe verbs, adjective, other adverbs (very, nearly, never, quickly, almost)
- 6) Articles: signal a noun follows (the, a, an)
- 7) Prepositions: show relationships between words (above, before, of, with, after, on)
- 8) Conjunctions: connect words, phrases etc. (and, or, but, unless, either, because)
No complete grammar or sentence structuring or diagraming course will be attempted here. But a brief
walk through of review will be attempted if nothing more than to have the basic set of terms to draw
on in the discussion to follow readily in mind.
A sentence contains a noun, either present or implied, and a verb. "Gordon runs." "Run!" These
are both complete sentences as they both have a noun Gordon or You implied, and a
verb. A brief representative informal diagraming of the first example sentence:
This is the limit of review deemed to be enough to find what the "Topic" or "Subject" of a paragraph
or sentence is. The topic or subject would be indentified by the noun or pronous (person, place or
thing) that the paragraph or sentence is speaking about. It is the center of focus about which the
paragaph or sentence is speaking about. The verb renders what action or state of being
the subject or topic is in or doing.
The other parts of speech modify (further defines) what is being said, such as adjective, adverbs, and
prepositional phrases. Or further structure then sentence stucture by previewing (articles) nouns
or making of compound structures (conjunctions) with and, but, or, else, etc. These are futher
diagramed in relation to that which they modify or structure.
This should be enough of a review to adequately surfice for the later grammar, paragraph and
sentence structuring discusion. At least it ought to turn the mind to the facts
of the matter rather than it being governed by the emotion of the discussion.
Acceptable Translations and Versions of Scripture
The King James Bible translators are the English translators of the bible who will not be contested
here with the except to look as a 'New King James Version' also prepared by those of some English
Language expertise. They will not be challenged here, just compared. And the entire chapter of Isaiah
11 will be presented as this is an appendix and to ensure that nothing is being taken out of context.
The King James Version of the Bible —: Isaiah 11:
¶ "AND there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow
out of his roots:
"And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit
of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;
"And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the
sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears:
"But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth:
and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he
slay the wicked.
"And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.
"The wolf also shall well with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf
and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.
"And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall
eat straw like the ox.
"And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on
the cockatrice' den.
"They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge
of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.
¶ "And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to
it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.
"And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to
recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from
Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the
sea.
"And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather
together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
"The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall
not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim.
"But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west; they shall spoil them of
the east together: they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab; and the children of Ammon shall obey
them.
"And the LORD shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his mighty wind shall he
shake his hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over dryshod.
"And there shall be an highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria; like
as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt."
~ Old Testament | Isaiah 11:1-16
Now for compared reference and consideration of any diferences, the New King James Version
will also be presented here as well. This is no disagreement here as to their presentation and in
fact it seems to bring in a bit more of the proper English translation to the chapter.
"
Isaiah 11:1-16 — New King James Version (NKJV)
The Reign of Jesse’s Offspring
1
“There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse,
And a Branch shall grow out of his roots.
2
The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him,
The Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The Spirit of counsel and might,
The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.
3
His delight is in the fear of the Lord,
And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes,
Nor decide by the hearing of His ears;
4
But with righteousness He shall judge the poor,
And decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth,
And with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.
5
Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins,
And faithfulness the belt of His waist.”
6
“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb,
The leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
The calf and the young lion and the fatling together;
And a little child shall lead them.
7
The cow and the bear shall graze;
Their young ones shall lie down together;
And the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8
The nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole,
And the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den.
9
They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,
For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord
As the waters cover the sea.”
10
“And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse,
Who shall stand as a banner to the people;
For the Gentiles shall seek Him,
And His resting place shall be glorious.”
11
“It shall come to pass in that day
That the Lord shall set His hand again the second time
To recover the remnant of His people who are left,
From Assyria and Egypt,
From Pathros and Cush,
From Elam and Shinar,
From Hamath and the islands of the sea.
12
He will set up a banner for the nations,
And will assemble the outcasts of Israel,
And gather together the dispersed of Judah
From the four corners of the earth.
13
Also the envy of Ephraim shall depart,
And the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off;
Ephraim shall not envy Judah,
And Judah shall not harass Ephraim.
14
But they shall fly down upon the shoulder of the Philistines toward the west;
Together they shall plunder the people of the East;
They shall lay their hand on Edom and Moab;
And the people of Ammon shall obey them.
15
The Lord will utterly destroy the tongue of the Sea of Egypt;
With His mighty wind He will shake His fist over the River,
And strike it in the seven streams,
And make men cross over dry-shod.
16
There will be a highway for the remnant of His people
Who will be left from Assyria,
As it was for Israel
In the day that he came up from the land of Egypt.”
Now a liberty has been taken to remove such references which were in both texts. The presumption
of the chapter beginning with a paragraph has been made for both. And whereas the NKJB would have
beginning quotes in some places without ending qoutation, those ending quotations have been put
in place where a beginning quotation would so warrent them and visa versa. This was done in
order to properly open and close with quotes where such were already supplied by the text.
At this point Isaiah 11 verse 1 of the KJB and of the NKJV will be compared in a short parallel table.
King James Bible
Isaiah 11:1
AND there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse,
and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:
~ Old Testament | Isaiah 11:1
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New King James Version
Isaiah 11:1
There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse,
And a Branch shall grow out of his roots:
~ Old Testament | Isaiah 11:1
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The New King James Version has done a few things which do seem to better present the verse and what is
the beginning to the opening paragraph of Isaiah chapter 11. Since it is the beginning of a chapter,
they seem to figure there is no reason to begin it with the conjunction AND, so it has been dropped.
In parallel with the second part of this compound sentence, to match the subjects of the parallel
conjunction of Branch and rod, the have elected to capitalize the matching subject Rod, making it
that the subject(s) of the parallelism is Rod and Branch. As it seems most likely that the
prepositional phrases of the two matching parallelism basically reflected each other, they changed
both to the simplier preposition of from and removed out of from the
first line and made it the matching preposition from.
In the second line, since they lined it out differently as maybe seen above in a somewhat ancient
scriptural manner, the second And is capitalized as it begins a new line. Other than
these changes, which do not seem to change the meaning of intent at all, but only make it easier to
follow the subject, verb, and prepositional modifying phrase of the two now short parallel sentences,
nothing really of any major effect has been done here. By preferrence of selective clarity, the
New King James Version of verse 1 will be the one used to analyze and rudamentarially diagram as to
fundamentally sound English grammar and therefore meaning.
Note, just to be sure that I was not demostrating any bias in my diagramming skills, I presented the
first line of the compound parallelism to be diagrammed by an online sentence diagramming applicaiton.
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And
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Branch | shall grow
\ | \
\A \out of
\
\ his roots
Now the subject of this opennin verse, which is also the Topic of the entire first
paragraph is now plain. The topic is, A Rod and Branch, the two used in parallel here being two
names for the same topic. The Branch certainly denotes Jesus Christ, as does the Rod also when the
parallelism is properly recognized and even grammarically diagrammed out. Thus the whole of the
remaining first paragraph's statements ought to all refer to back to Him—Jesus Christ, the
Rod and the Branch.
But where does the first paragraph end? This is where the New King James Version is helpful. It did
denote that verse 6 was the beginning of a new 'quoted' reference that runs from verse 6 to verse
9 and then certainly verse 10 is the paragraph after that.
Let's test that out. if this is the case the verses 2 through 5 should refer to Jesus Christ, who
is the Rod and the Branch. And verses 6 through 9 ought to start another paragraph of thought.
"The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, The Spirit of
counsel and might, The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord." When Jesus Christ was
baptized the Holy Ghost descended out of heaven and abode upon him. Certainly the Holy Spirit of God,
the Spirit of wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge and of the fear of God; are all
descriptions of the Holy Ghost and what it does for man on earth in respect to God the Father in
Heaven. And certainly God the Father, the LORD GOD, did set HIS Spirit upon Jesus Christ during
his temporal part of his ministry. Verse two does refer back to the topic of the paragraph of verses
1-5.
"His delight is the fear of the Lord, And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, Nor decide by
the hearing of His Ears;" Jesus Christ, as well as God the Father, in whom the Son does delight and
fear, both are no respecter of persons. They both judge fairly according to the factual evidence of
the Spirit of the Holy Ghost, who is the very Spirit of Truth, Justice and the American way. This
does also refer directly to none other than Jesus Christ, the Rod and the Branch.
"But with righteousness He shall judge the poor, And decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He shall slay
the wicked." This is a very fine description of the workings and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He was he who was the voice and WORD of God in the preexistence where he presented and defended the
Plan of God to God's spirit children. And by that power bestowed upon Him by the Father, does the
Son, the Lord God Jehovah, even Jesus Christ speak out by the voice of Hims lips the power of God
against the wicked unto their very destruction.
"Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins, And faithfulness the belt of His waist." Jesus Christ
was the faithful Son of God, doing all that the Father had required of Him to do. He was the sinless,
the righteous sacrifice for sin that wrought out the atonement of the Great Plan of Happiness. And
He has been forever faithful unto the Father. Certainly this to refers back to the topic of the
Rod and the Branch, who is Jesus Christ.
Now why does the NKJV set off verses 6-9 by a separating qoute? It seem that the perspective of the
topic at hand my have clearly changed as far as Paragraph organization is concerned. Verses 6-9 all
are concerned with the Millennium, and the conditions thereof. But one might suggest that they are
also that part of the ministry of Jesus Christ in that great Millennial ministry. But the logical
bridge does seem to be missing some textual material to link it directly back to the Rod and Branch.
And with only that which they had at hand, perhaps the NKJV has offered the next best paragraph
division at this point.
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At this point, it may be said that Isaiah 11 has been objectively analyzed through its
first 9 verses and only Jesus Christ is found in them and Joseph Smith is not. Could they who have
presented Joseph Smith in those first 9 verses of Isaiah 11 been mistaken? And if so, are they humble
enough to admit it? Just where does that concept they have built come from?
All prophets of God follow after Christ as well as they can, even in the very similitude of Jesus if
you will. But ought any arise as Moses seemed to have once done and take it unto himself to allow that
which pertained unto Jehovah be attributed unto himself? That cost Moses his entry into the land of
promise, though I suspect that God held Moses and Aaron back for other reasons as well, like clearing
the way for Joshua to take the helm of leadership.
Yet is it dared to challenge the very scriptures and reasons why many now do consider those early
verses to speak of Joseph Smith? Thus far the objective high ground has been taken in this analysis.
Can the objective high ground be maintained in a review D&C 113 as well?
Now Concerning D&C 113:1
After first respectfully fairly reviewing the Bible verses objectively, it is time do the same
beginning with D&C 113:1 which does ask it question concerning the very verses just considered of
Isaiah 11:1-5. This begins with the daigram of Isaiah 11:1 of it first half of the compound
parallelism and the question asked in D&C 113:1.
"WHO is the Stem of Jesse spoken of in the 1st, 2d, 3d, 4th, and 5th verses of the
11th chapter of Isaiah?"
~ Doctrine and Covenants | Section 113:1
From the just completed objective analysis, this question should have been:
"WHO is the Rod spoken of in the 1st, 2d, 3d, 4th, and 5th verses of the
11th chapter of Isaiah?"
Exactly why the anonymous asker of the question chose to place the verb modifying prepositional
phrase as the direct object of the pronoun 'who' is not known. But it was not according to a
proper comprehension of Isaiah 11:1-5 that it was done. The stem of Jesse but refered to the ancestry
from which the Rod and Branch were grown out of and to come from from his, Jesse's roots.
The first verse question is not scripture in and of itself. It is not known who asked it as stated
in the LDS Doctrine and Covenants Student Manual— Section 113 Isaiah Interpreted.
In it there stated that, "It is not known who asked the first questions—" Beyond that is
speculation which is not a part of objective analysis. It does point out that Elias Higbee did ask
the final question of that section.
It should be noted that the LDS Manual does state that the Prophet Joseph Smith never did take the
honor unto himself to either claim that he was the 'rod' or the 'root' spoken of in the section.
The manual does allude to the 'assumptons' and speculations that some have made that Joseph Smith
is being referenced to, particulary to being the 'rod.' It is Dr. Sperry that states, "Despite this
reasoning, we still have the uneasy feeling that better proof of Joseph Smith's being
the 'rod' should be available." Yet with that said concerning the illusive 'we' he
goes right on to state that "I believe there is better proof and that it is found in Doctrine and
covenants 113:5-6." Thus may have felt free to so continue to state and speculate such.
This quote by Sydney Sperry first was quoted from "The Problem of the 'Rod' and
the 'Root' of Jesse' in Isaiah," Improvement Era, Oct. 1966, pp. 869, 914-15.
And many have jumped on the 'Sperry bandwagon,' though not many seem to relized that is was Brother
Sperry who so early suggested that there is such proof available.
The Question of D&C 113:1 Analyzed Objectively
To begin the analysis, the diagram of the sentence or scripture that the question is based on ought
to be again reviewed beside the question asked and see if the question is even a very good question
based upon the Isaiah 11:1 topic subject to which the other verses of 1-5 is speaking.
"Who is the Stem of Jesse spoken of in the 1st, 2d, 3d, 4th, and 5th verses of the 11th
chapter of Isaiah?"
Now with the diagram of the first topic sentence of the compound parallelism opening sentences of the
paragraph's 5 verses side by side, there are some items of concern. First the anonymous question
is actually a combination of two questions in one. And it is similar to a snare question that the
Jewish scribes might be expected ask Jesus Christ, or such as what Zeezrom might ask of Amulek.
Sorted out, the first half question that is actually a good question does simply ask:
"Who is spoken of in the 1st, 2d, 3d, 4th, and 5th verses of the 11th chapter of Isaiah?"
That question is a good solid question as the pronoun 'Who' is in truth a direct antecedent reference
to the topic and subject of the whole paragraph as discused above, that being the Rod and the Branch.
So, "Who is the Rod and the Branch?" is a solid question.
The second half question sorted out really makes little comprehension sense from the standard rules
of language paragraph formation or the grammatic rules of sentence structure. It places a verb
modifying prepositional phrase from Isaiah's first verse, the paragraph's topic sentence, to
be the antecedent of the question's leading pronoun 'who.' This is done by placing the prepositional
phrase as the pronoun's defining direcct object with its proper leading preposition removed. That has
no coherence with what the topic/subject(s) of the topic sentence did state the topic to be, that
being the Rod and the Branch. Is basically is asking:
"Who is the Stem of Jesse?"
And therein lies the snare that confounds and corrupts the whole question when the two questions
are joined togeter as one. To fully explain it takes time, more time than what most are welling to
wade through to properly come to a clarifying understanding of the matter. It makes no comprehension
coherence to the first five verses, which all related to the Rod and Branch, stated topic/subject of
the paragraph. The stem of Jesse, or as it appears in the opening sentence of Isaiah 11:1, is a
[double depth] prepositional phrase, "from or out of the stem of Jesse." And that
prepositional phrase is modifying the verb action of 'shall come.' In the topic sentence it is stating
that the Rod shall come from the stem of Jesse. As a verb modifying
prepositional phrase, it is actually a self defining clarification of the ancestral source of the Rod
and the Branch, as the parallelism mirrors the prepositional phrase with its own matching 'from his
roots.' What it has said is that the Rod and the Branch shall grow and come forth from the stem of
Jesse, from his roots.
And, "Who is the Stem of Jesse? is self answered as being Jesse's roots. Or "Who are his roots?" it is
the stem of Jesse. In parallel form they already define each other but only in relationship to they
being a paralleled prepositional phrase and both of them modifying the verb action of the parallelism.
Beyond giving the Rod and the Branch its ancestrial source of being descended from Jesse, it is not
the topic subject of the paragraph and to whom the rest of the paragraph is speak in relationship to.
Those related verses of 1-5 are speaking of the Rod and the Branch, who is Jesus Christ. Those related
verses are not speaking concerning Jesse, Jesus' ancestor.
Now IF this second half of the question were written properly according to the proper
comprehension coherence then is would be written as it was written in the original topic sentence
of the paragraph. That is it would be still written as a prepositional phrase. Compare the two
examples below, the first being the confounding corruption of understanding that the second at least
restoring to how it should at least be writen properly as a prepositional pharse as it was in the
orignal text.
"Who is the Stem of Jesse?"
"Who is from [out of] the stem of Jesse?"
In the first it improperly makes 'the Stem of Jesse' as being the direct object of the pronoun
'Who,' which it is NOT. When written as it was in the original as a prepositional phrase, thus
it can be properly still seen that the prepositional phrase 'from [out of] the stem of Jesse' can
still be seen as that which is modifying the state of being verb 'is.' And it is NOT the direct
object of the pronoun 'who' and 'who' is thence left to have its antecedent then properly refer back
to the topic/subject of the Topic Sentence of the paragraph, that being to refer to the Rod and to
the Branch as it correct antecedent that the pronoun 'who' is to in truth reference.
Now we are ready to fully view the meanings and implications of D&C 113.
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Doctrine and Covanants
Section 113:1
"WHO is the Stem of Jesse spoken of in the 1st, 2d, 3d, 4th, and 5th verses of the 11th chapter of
Isaiah?"
~~~ CORRECTED ~~~~
"WHO is from [out of] the stem of Jesse spoken of in the 1st, 2d, 3d, 4th, and 5th verses of the 11th chapter of
Isaiah?"
~~~ OR CORRECTED ~~~~
"WHO is spoken of in the 1st, 2d, 3d, 4th, and 5th verses of the 11th chapter of Isaiah?"
Doctrine and Covenants | Section 113:1 with Corrected Questions
~ The anonymous question being pooly formed and/or recorded ~
The First question is using a prepositional phrase incorrectly as the direct object of the
pronoun 'who,' and it confuses matters as to just what is the correct antecedent that the pronoun
'who' is in reference to, which is the Rod and the Branch. The Rod and the Branch is the true
compound parallelism Topic/Subject(s) of the paragraph of the first 5 verses of Isaiah chapter 11.
The Second corrected question has properly used the adverb-verb modifying prepositional phrase
from Isaiah 11:1 of 'from [out of] the stem of Jesse'. But when placed between the
two verbs of 'is spoken' it confuses the issue and even makes it difficult to determine
just how the question would be properly diagramed.
The Third corrected question drops the confusing and un-needed verb modifying prepositional
phrase, and it becomes clear that the proper antecedent of the pronoun 'who' is actually the Rod
and the Branch. That is:
'Who is the Rod and the Branch?'
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New King James Version
Isaiah 11:1-5
1 There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse,
And a Branch shall grow out of his roots:
[Verse 1 is a scriptural parallelism that matches the two parallel Paragraph Topic/subject(s) of the
Rod and the Branch,
the two parallel verbs shall come and shall grow,
and the two parallel prepositional phrases from (out of) the stem of Jesse and out of his roots.]
2 The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, The Spirit of counsel and might, The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.
3 His delight is in the fear of the Lord, And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, Nor decide by the hearing of His ears;
4 But with righteousness He shall judge the poor, And decide with equity for the meek of the earth; He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.
5 Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins, And faithfulness the belt of His waist.”
~ Old Testament | Isaiah 11:1-5
Note: All of these related paragraph verses relate to the Paragraph Topic-Subject(s) of the Rod and
the Branch, who is doublely for emphasis in the parallelism stated as Rod and Branch though it is
refering to but the one person, who is Jesus Christ.
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Hence the purely objective determination is that the present confusion is caused due to a poorly
constructed question that places a verb modifying prepositonal phase as the direct object of the
pronoun question 'who' making that prepositional phrase '[from/out of] the Stem of Jesse' to be the
mistaken antecedent of the question pronoun. The actual antecedent of the question pronoun 'who'
was not in the question sentence, but in the verse of Isaiah 11:1 that was being questioned, and
that antecedent of the pronoun was the paragraph's parallel topic-subject(s) of the Rod and the
Branch. They, the Rod and the Branch being used in parallel for emphasis but actually both in
parallel but referencing just one person, 'Who was/is Jesus Christ.'
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Now with that objective determination is mind, Doctrine and Covenants section 113 can be more
properly continued to be explored as done in this presentations various items that refer to it.
And it will be now also reviewed here as well, now next beginning with D&C 113:2, which is
that Prophet Joseph Smith's answer to the anonymous question.
"Verily thus saith the Lord: It is Christ."
~ Doctrine and Covenants | Section 113:2
Thus as determined what the answer should be in the foregoing analysis of both Isaiah 11:1-5 and
D&C 113:1 further above, the answer give by the Prophet Joseph Smith from the Lord, is indeed that
the Rod and Branch spoken of in Isaiah 11:1-5 is Jesus Christ. This in it self is no big surprise,
but what does not become the next question and its answer is now much more fully revealing. Those
two verses, the question and its answer will be presented together before further discussion.
"What [Who] is the rod spoken of in the first verse of the 11th chapter of Isaiah, that
should come of the Stem of Jesse?
"Behold, thus saith the Lord: It is a servant in the hands of Christ, who is partly a descendant of
Jesse as well as of Ephraim, or of the house of Joseph, on whom there is laid much power."
~ Doctrine and Covenants | Section 113:3-4
The second question does actually now become a redundant question, as who the Rod is has already been
given by an objective proper analysis of the question and answer in verses 1 and 2 of D&C 113. But
rather than to inspire the prophet Joseph Smith to give the same answer more inforation of a very
revealing nature is then given by the Lord.
What man does not take his own life into his own hands in what he does by way of his agency day by day?
Jesus often speaks and delivers his word in a manner that what he has said is to be understood by
degrees and/or levels of understanding according to the accopanying revelation of the Spirit of Truth.
Notice the humility of our Lord and God as he frames himself humbly as 'a servant' who like unto us
all by his agency has taken his own accountablility and performance into his own hands. Who is Jesus
a servant of. On the one hand he is the servant of the Most High God, Our Father in Heaven, even
Elohim. On the other hand, according to his own condescension, he has descended below all things and
become the very servant of all mankind, deliving to them their way unto salvation and exaltation though
the atonment—suffering for the sins of all men who come unto him, repent of their sins, and
enter in by the straight gate, and live according to the word and commandsments of God.
There is truth of understanding to be received by following what the Lord does further state by the
voice of the Prophet Joseph Smith. What is more true than the fact the Jesus Christ is "partly a
descendant of Jesse?" Being the Only Begotten Son of God in the flesh, certainly Jesus Christ is
only partly descended from mortal man, in this case according to the seed of woman as the son of
Mary.
Take care in the reading of the precise statement the Lord makes concerning his earthly genealogy.
He states that, 'He is a descendant of Jesse as well as of Ephraim, or of the house of
Joseph.' When he says he is of Jesse as well as of Ephraim, there is no division between
being of Jesse and Ephraim made as to separate families, but it is stated as being of one singular linier
genealogical lineage. And what doubt to that ought to be dispelled by the manner that the concluding
statement is made as to being , OR in respect to both those fathers, and the once again
singular prouncement that he is 'of the house of Joseph.'
No mention is made of his being of the house of Judah. Yes, Obed was by blood the son of Boaz a Jew of
Judah. But as has been presented in this presentation through out, Obed was legally and rightfully by
the Law of Moses, the Law of God, raised up as the first born son of Ruth to be the seed of the dead.
That is that Obed was son and heir of Mahlon and of the house of Elimelech, those Ephrathites,
meaning Ephraimites, the covenant heirs of Joshua, the son of Nun and of Ephraim the son of Joseph,
the son of Jacob.
Jesus was according to the Patraiarchal Oder of the priesthood on earth the legal heir to that
priesthood by the earthly covenant of God to man. And by and through that earthly everlasting
Covenant of promise made to man by God, in order to fulfill all righteousness, Jesus was the heir
of the covenant birthright from Joseph by his son Ephraim. Jesus was of the house of Joseph, the
heir of Joseph, the heir of the birthright and in him would must priesthood power be laid upon
him according to the covenant of Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph by whom and
through whom the promises have have remained.
Much is stated in that second answer concerning the Lord Jesus Christ in just one very revealing
single sentence. "I AM a servant of God and man whose life is in my own hands by agency, who am
only partley a descendant of man, being also Son of God, through the line of Jesse to Ephraim or
of the covenant house of Joseph, even the heir of the covenant on whom there is laid much power,
even unto the providing man his way unto immortality and eternal life." In his one sentence life
summary Jesus Christ, who is Jehovah gave a great panoramic view into just who he was and is.
"What [Who] is the root of Jesse spoken of in the 10th verse of the 11th chapter?
"Behold, thus saith the Lord, it is a descendant of Jesse, as well as of Joseph, unto whom rightly
belongs the priesthood, and the keys of the kingdom, for an ensign, and for the gathering of my
people in the last days."
~ Doctrine and Covenants | Section 113:5-6
Perhaps this last question concernng Isaiah chapter 11 could be left was a 'what' question, but
'who' seem to be more fitting. Certainly here Joseph Smith is referenced. He is the Prophet of
the Dispensation of the Fullness of Times. He is the first of this Dispensation's leaders, it
leading Prophet, Seer, and Revelator upon whom the keys of the kingdom have been laid and through
whom they have continued.
Joseph Smith is a pure Ephraimite, a descendant of Jesse as well as of Joseph just as such as Jesus
Christ was of the house of Joseph and heir of the covenant birthright, was Joseph Smith a descendant
of Joseph and Ephraim and Obed and Jesse. He is of that Ephraimite lineage. And by his ancestry he
was heir to the priesthood. It rightly belongs unto Joseph Smith. Unto him did the priesthood rightly
belong and also the keys of the kingdom, for an ensign, and for the gathering of the Lord's people
in the last days. Like unto Joseph, there are many who are of the house of Joseph who have come forth
and joined themselves unto this priesthood and church.